No. 8 UCSB Sweeps UC San Diego 30-20, 30-20, 31-29

Santa Barbara, Calif. - The No. 8 UC Santa Barbara men's volleyball team hit for a collective .500 percentage in its three-game sweep over UC San Diego, 30-20, 30-20, 31-29, Friday night at Robertson Gym to bring its overall record to 10-9 and its Mountain Pacific Sports Federation mark to 7-7.

The Gauchos were led by junior opposite Evan Patak who recorded 19 kills and six aces. Junior outside hitter Derek Otte also delivered a solid match for the Gauchos, recording 13 kills on 20 while registering a .550 hitting percentage.

Mike Rueter and Jon Daze led the Tritons (1-16 overall, 0-12 MPSF) with 11 kills apiece. UCSD struggled to hit consistently against the Gaucho block, hitting for a .253 clip as a team.

The Gauchos jumped out to an early lead in game one, starting the match on a 10-3 run. UCSD cut the Santa Barbara lead to four at 12-8, but an 8-3 run helped the UCSB pull away as they took game one 30-20.

Game two was more of the same as UCSB jumped out to an 11-5 lead to start the game. The Gauchos would augment their lead to as much as 12 points at 28-16, cruising to another 30-20 victory.

With the lineup of Dane Jensen, Jared Godinez, David Kennedy, Michael Fisher, Otte, Patak and Drew Wilson in for much of the third game, the Gauchos struggled at the beginning of the game as UCSD jumped out to a 15-9 lead. UCSB trailed for the entirety of game three until they tied the match at 29-29. Consecutive kills by Otte and Patak made the comeback complete and the match history as UCSB took the game 31-29.

UCSB returns to the hardwood Tuesday, March 7 when they play host to Lewis at Robertson Gym at 7:05.